Saturday, December 28, 2019
How to Structure an Essay
If youve been tasked withà writing an essayà for a class assignment, the project might seem daunting. However, your assignment doesnt have to be a hair-pulling, frazzled all-nighter. Think of writing an essay as if you wereà making a hamburger. Imagine the parts of a burger:à Theres a bun (bread) on top and a bun on the bottom. In the middle, youll find the meat.à Your introduction is like the top bun announcing the subject, your supporting paragraphs are the beef in the middle, and your conclusion is the bottom bun, supporting everything. The condiments would be the specificà examplesà andà illustrationsà that can help toà clarifyà key points and keep your writing interesting. (Who, after all, would eat a burger composed only of bread and beef?) Each part needs to be present: A soggy or missing bun would cause your fingers to slip immediately into the beef without being able to hold and enjoy the burger. But if your burger had no beef in the middle, youd be left with two dry pieces of bread. The Introduction Yourà introductory paragraphsà introduce the reader to your topic. For example, you might choose to write an essay titled, Technology Is Changing Our Lives. Start your introduction with aà hookà that captures the readers attention: Technology is taking over our lives and changing the world. After you introduce your topic and draw the reader in, the most important part of your introductory paragraph(s) would be youà the main idea, orà thesis. The Little Seagull Handbook calls this a statement that introduces your main point, identifying your topic. Your thesis statement could read: Information technology has revolutionized the way we work. But, your topic can be more varied and may cover seemingly mundane subjects, such as this opening paragraph fromà Mary Zeiglersà How to Catch River Crabs. Zeigler grabs the readers attentionà from the first sentence: As a lifelong crabber (that is, one who catches crabs, not a chronic complainer), I can tell you that anyone who has patience and a great love for the river is qualified to join the ranks of crabbers.ââ¬â¹ The final sentences of your introduction, then, would be a mini-outline of what your essay will cover. Dont use an outline form, but explain briefly all the key points you intend to discuss in narrative form. Supporting Paragraphs Extending the hamburger essay theme, theà supporting paragraphsà would be beef. These would include well-researched and logical points that support your thesis. Theà topic sentenceà of each paragraph might serve as the reference points of your mini-outline. The topicà sentence, which is oftenà at the beginning of aà paragraph, states or suggests the main idea (orà topic) of a paragraph. Bellevue College in Washington state shows how to writeà four different supporting paragraphs on four different topics: a description of a beautiful day; savings and loan and bank failures; the writers father; and, the writers joke-playing cousin. Bellevue explains that your supporting paragraphs should provide rich, vivid imagery, or logical and specific supporting details, depending on your topic. A perfect supporting paragraph for the technology topic, discussed previously, could draw on current events. In its Jan. 20-21, 2018, weekend edition, The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled, Digital Revolution Upends Ad Industry: A Divide Between Old Guard and New Tech Hires. The article described in searing detail, how one of the worlds biggest ad agencies lost a major Mcdonalds advertising account to a relative upstartà because the fast-food chain felt the older agency was not adept enough at using data to quickly produce online ads and target minute slices of its customer base. The younger, hipper, agency, by contrast, had worked with Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Incs Google to assemble a team of data experts. You could use this news story to illustrate how technologyââ¬âand a need for workers who understand it and are able to use itââ¬âis taking over the world and is changing entire industries. The Conclusion Just as a hamburger needs a durable bottom bun to contain all the ingredients inside, your essay needs a strong conclusion to support and buttress your points. You can also think of it as theà closing argumentà a prosecutor might make in a criminal court case. The closing arguments section of a trial takes place when the prosecution attempts to strengthen the evidence she presented to the jury.à Even though the prosecutor likely provided solid and compelling arguments and evidence during the trial, it isnt until the closing arguments that she ties it all together. In the same way, youll restate your main points in the conclusion in reverse order of how you listed them in your introduction. Some sources call this an upside-down triangle: The intro was a triangle that was right-side up, where you started with a short, razor sharp pointââ¬âyour hookââ¬âwhich then fanned out slightly to your topic sentence and broadened further with your mini-outline. The conclusion, by contrast, is an upside-down triangle that starts by broadly reviewing the evidenceââ¬âthe points you made in your supporting paragraphsââ¬âand then narrows to your topic sentence and a restatement of your hook. In this way, youve logically explained your points, restated your main idea, and left readers with a zinger that hopefully convinces them of your point of view. Source Bullock, Richard. The Little Seagull Handbook with Exercises. Michal Brody, Francine Weinberg, Third edition, W. W. Norton Company, December 22, 2016.
Friday, December 20, 2019
Candide, Macbeth and Oedipus Rex - 1525 Words
In Candide, Macbeth and Oedipus Rex, fate and free will are always two opposing themes reflect on major characters. Fate is a belief that the future is predetermined, and itââ¬â¢s truly impossible to convert the consequence. No matter how people endeavor, the same thing will happen because that is what is supposed to occur. Itââ¬â¢s also the philosophy that everything happens for a reason or relates to the God, things donââ¬â¢t happen ââ¬Å"just becauseâ⬠. Free will is a constant concept that people act freely upon their voluntary intentions. People doing something because they wanted to do, not the thing that is supposed to happen. People have totally control of their actions when to use their free wills, and they donââ¬â¢t necessarily believe that things happen for a specific reason. Both beliefs are exemplified by different characters among three books, and they bring out a similar point that fate and free will always alternately happen in a same event. People in tuitively think that they acting freely, but the fate has already impacted in their action. In fact, the fate and free will might cannot leave without each other. In Voltaireââ¬â¢s novel, Candide, it talks about Candideââ¬â¢s adventure and other peopleââ¬â¢s stories. After everything got down, Candide learnt that people had free will and dominated their fates based on their actions in the present. However, at the beginning of the story, Candide and some other people believed in Pangloss that everything happened in their life was supposed toShow MoreRelatedFate and Free Will in Literature Essay771 Words à |à 4 PagesOedipus Rex, Candide, Macbeth, The Cherry Orchard, and the Metamorphosis all have one obvious recurring theme; fate v.s. freewill. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus tries to beat his fate. He leaves home and travels because he is afraid of the prophecy made of him. Despite this, in the case of Oedipus, his fate was inescapable. Candide, on the other hand, defies his fat e. He is fated to be separated from Cunegonde, but he keeps trying and trying to be with her. Candide goes through many obstacles, learns aboutRead MoreEssay Prompts4057 Words à |à 17 Pagesunderstanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. You may select a work from the list below or another novel or play of comparable literary merit. Alias Grace Middlemarch All the Kingââ¬â¢s Men Moby-Dick Candide Obasan Death of a Salesman Oedipus Rex Doctor Faustus Orlando Don Quixote A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Gesture Life Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Ghosts The Scarlet
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Description of Strategic Management of Manchester United FC
Question: Describe about the term for Strategic Management of Manchester United FC? Answer: Corporate Objectives of Manchester United Manchester United FC, a professional sports team of Manchester, England, has three principle sectors in their business model. The three areas are Commercial, Broadcasting and Matchday. Corporate strategy of Manchester United FC totally depends on these three sectors. Via commercial sector, they enhance their global brand using three revenue streams which are retail, merchandising apparel and product licensing and mobile and content (manutd.com 2016). Authority of Manchester United FC also focuses on their broadcasting sector that allows them to gain a large part of their total revenue. Broadcasting revenue of Manchester United was 108 million in 2015. Therefore, their foremost objective is to increase the availability of MUTV (Manchester United TV) in different countries. Last but not the least, match day sector of the organization is responsible for proving 90.6 million revenue in the year of 2015 (manutd.com 2016). Being one of the largest stadiums in the world, Old Trafford has th e seating capacity of 75,669 and Manchester United Authority is planning to increase this number so that they can gain more revenue from match days (Paramio et al. 2015). Vision: The vision of Manchester United is to become the perennial best soccer club in the world, both on and of the pitch (manutd.com 2016). Some of their other vision and values are staying united (committed passion for success), non-discriminatory (available to all), creative (to be first to ball every time) and team oriented (working as a team with dedication). Mission: As Manchester United, our mission is to become the most powerful and successful sports team in the world, both on and off the pitch (manutd.com 2016). From the mission statement, it is clear that the organization is focused to combine their best business practices to acquire and maintain a championship caliber team that will help them to become a more successful brand in the world. PESTLE analysis of Manchester United PESTLE analysis on Manchester United FC is mentioned below by describing the effect of four major factors (Political, Economic, Technological and Social) on it. Manchester United is an English Premier League soccer club located in Manchester, UK. Therefore, all the factors described in this analysis will focus on the UK market. Figure 1: PESTLE Analysis (Source: Ausloos 2014 ) Political factors European Football Association and global equivalents like Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Fdration Internationale de Football Association or International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) are primarily affecting Manchester United FC politically. These organizations are responsible for shaping and instructing how all football clubs can operate (Ausloos et al. 2014). UEFA and FIFA set the rules and regulations for the football clubs regarding transferring and signing players and carrying out their on-field activities. According to the rules of UEFA 2010, those organizations also monitor the amount of debts a club is allowed to carry. This rule has a direct effect on Manchester United FC as their high-level debts can cause short-term financial difficulties in near future (Edwards 2013). As the club cannot afford more debts according to the rules of UEFA, the scale and duration of Manchester Uniteds financial difficulties might increase further. Economic Major economic recession in the UK is likely to affect the revenues of Manchester United. Watching football matches and following football clubs as big as Manchester United is expensive. Therefore, it is possible that Manchester United will feel an economic decline in near future. However, in spite of the critical economic conditions of the UK, Manchester United continues to grow its revenues as per BBC sports. According to Millward and Poulton (2014), the revenue of Manchester United reached record levels in the year of 2015. As a result, of this economic fall, buying players will be difficult for the club, as the other clubs in Eurozone will have an advantage because of the pound's current weakness against the Euro (manutd.com 2016). Social The desire to watch football has increased significantly among the people. In some previous periods such as in 1980s, football was affected by hooliganism, but now football has become the center of social interests (Doidge 2014). Having the largest fan base and the most attractive brand value in the world, Manchester United will be benefited because of this social interest (manutd.com 2016). Technological The advent of the internet technology, hundreds of broadcasting channels and various social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter has come up. These social media sites have helped Manchester United to unite with a broader range of fans and followers globally (Rofe 2014). This also allows Manchester United to gain more revenue from the fans that do not live in within the range of traditional distribution networks of UK or cannot access football matches on their local television networks. Porters Competitive Forces Porters five forces model or competitive forces are mentioned below to find out the attractiveness of Manchester Uniteds key market in UK. Figure 2: Porters five force model with their level of influence (Source: Sanders 2014) Buyer power A large part of Manchester Uniteds revenue is dependent on its fans and followers. Even though the club has a huge fan base, these fans and followers can switch to other EPL clubs of UK like Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool. Poor performance of Manchester United in English Premier League and other major leagues can force the fans and followers to move to other teams (Olson et al. 2016). Besides, switching costs are also low for the buyers/fans. Supplier power Supplier power in England is much more favorable than any other country in the world (Ogbonna and Harris 2015). Countries like China and India have relatively high supplier power (Szymanski 2016). Clubs in those countries are not allowed to have more than five foreign players in their teams (Sanders et al. 2014). On the other hand, football clubs of England do not have such rules and regulations. Competitive rivalry Teams such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have already completed their pre-season tours in China. Liverpool is all set to join hands with one of the I-league teams in India. Chelsea is providing support to local teams in Korea and Japan. According to Poli et al. (2013), Arsenal has already taken over Manchester United in terms of popularity in China. Therefore, the competitive rivalry is fierce and Manchester United is currently losing the battle (Ado et al. 2015). Threat of Substitution Manchester Uniteds revenue mainly depends on English Premier League (EPL). EPL is considered as the most popular and demanding football league in UK and the world and being a top team in that league, Manchester United is in the center of all attraction (Porter et al. 2015). However, the popularity of EPL is fading slowly but steadily as some new football leagues are introduced in other countries, especially in countries of Asia. For example, Indian Super League has already acquired rank 3 in top 10 football leagues in the world where just two editions of that league have performed yet (Thetoptens.com 2016). Besides, football leagues in China are also gaining lots of attention which can affect EPL and Manchester United. Strong marketing presence of USA basketball teams in the UK can also divert the popularity of football to basketball. Threat of new entry The Asian market is slowly but steadily firming their grip on the football industry (Szymanski 2016). Football leagues in China and India are giving enormous competition to the football leagues in England, Germany, Spain and France. Several other countries are also planning to introduce new football leagues in the near future (Kennedy and Kennedy 2015). Therefore, a threat is rising for the existing football leagues regarding popularity. SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is conducted to describe strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Manchester United. These factors will shed light on the internal analysis and strategic capabilities of the football club. Figure 3: SWOT analysis (Source: Olson 2016) Strengths According to Nufer (2013), Manchester United is the strongest and valuable sports club and sports brand in the world. This helps the organization to gain immense revenues from sponsorship deals and the sale of merchandise around the world. The market position of Manchester United can be understood by the fan following it has which is 330 million; 5% of the worlds total population (manutd.com 2016). This huge fan following is the base of their strong brand image and there is no reason that it will face difficulties unless the club experiences a prolonged period of underperformance. Weaknesses The primary weakness of Manchester United FC is their high amount of debt on the market. Their debt is so high that the strengths of the club are arguably countered by this. Besides, the rules and regulations of UEFA and FIFA are not allowing the organization to take further debts which is causing more problems for the organization (Olson 2016). The recent performance of the club in any football tournament has been not only poor but they have also failed to qualify for UEFA champion leagues for the first time. As a result of this, their fan base is declining and their brand image is falling at an alarming rate. Opportunities The future opportunity of Manchester United lies in its huge fan base. Currently, the football club has 330 million fans and revenue of 327 million Euros per annum, most of which is generated within the UK and Europe from matchday and broadcasting sectors (manutd.com 2016). According to Olson (2016), the authority of Manchester United could double their revenue if they can gain one extra Euro per fan per year. Threats Manchester United has a huge amount of debt in the market. According to Kennedy and Kennedy (2015), if they cannot pay their debts within their maturity date, the amount of debts will rise to one billion pounds. The club is also facing fan protests because of their high level of debts. However, the club is not experiencing any major issues from the fan protests right now. It is expected that, if the club maintains their current position regarding debts, the fans might boycott the matches of Manchester United which will reduce the revenues and will increase the threat from debts. Market segment Manchester United has segmented their market into three sections which are commercial, matchday and broadcasting (manutd.com 2016). Their revenue based on these sectors are shown below, Figure 4: Revenue gain of Manchester United according to their market segments (in million US dollars) (Sources: manutd.com 2016) Porters Generic Strategy Framework Figure 5: Porters Generic Strategy Framework (Source: Shaw 2012) Cost leadership Cost leadership is a part of Porters Generic Strategy Framework that serves to provide competitive advantage to the organizations so that they can edge past their market rivals. For Manchester United, it is highly recommended that they must cut their costs as low as possible otherwise they will not be able to pay their debts (Wicker et al. 2015). Manchester United has already acquired this strategy, as from past two years they focusing on more local players than buying high rated foreign players. Signing up local players is helping them to reduce their organizational cost. Differentiation strategy Differentiation strategy allows a company to manufacture products which are different and more attractive that those of their competitors. Manchester United is a sports club. Therefore, their differentiation will be shown in terms of teams performance, brand image of the club, presence in the social media, connection with the fans and plans. Currently, the performance graph of the team is decreasing, as the club is unable to afford any high-ranked foreign player because of their debts (Shaw 2012). However, still Manchester United has the largest fan base in the world. Besides, their presence in social Media like Facebook and Twitter is far stronger than any other club in the world. Therefore, the club can easily use these differences as their differential strategies. The focus strategy The focus strategy concentrates on particular recess markets and helps the organizations to manufacture low cost products after understanding the dynamics of the market. These organizations build a strong relationship with their customers and therefore, other companies do not show any interest in that specific market segment. Like Liverpool and Arsenal, Manchester United can choose countries that are not economically wealthy but have the enthusiasm to play football, to set up their preseason camps (McNamara 2013). This will increase the clubs popularity in that country and because of the poor economy; the club will bear fewer expenses too. Strategic choice of Manchester United Based on Ansoffs matrix, strategic choices of Manchester United are described below, Market Penetration Market penetration is one of the most important objectives of any organization. Being one of the most popular sports clubs in the world, Manchester United is also looking to penetrate into new markets to acquire new fans. The one and only way to achieve this target is to buy better players who will help the club to win more leagues and trophies (Millward and Poulton 2014). More they win, more their fan base will increase and more they will penetrate into new markets. New Product Development Manchester United is already focusing on developing several products such as T-shirts, jackets, shoes and other sports accessories (Unlucan 2014). New Market Development Manchester United is working to increase the popularity of soccer in various countries. They are joining hands with countries like China and India to help develop their stadiums (Petrkov and Sorokov 2015). Besides, the club is also focusing to increase their popularity among female fans. Diversification Diversification of Manchester United totally depends on their fashion accessories and their contribution to other sports. Strategy evaluation Based on the Ansoffs matrix, it can be said that market penetration would be the best option for Manchester United FC to increase their market position, brand value, brand image and fan base. Suitability Currently, Manchester United FC is dealing with their huge amounts of debts and with the extreme poor performances of their team. Therefore, at this moment, market penetration might look difficult for them. However, if the authority does not take proper actions to minimize these issues, the organization will lose their entire market share and brand image in the near future. Therefore, they do not have any option but to choose market penetration strategy. They will have to spend their money cleverly to buy appropriate players for the club so that they can improve their performances and can regain the trust of their supports. Acceptability In the current context of huge debts and poor on-field performances, the mentioned strategy is fully acceptable for Manchester United FC as that is the best they can do at this moment. Feasibility Most of the rivals in EPL like Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, have already signed up major players for the next two seasons. Manchester United, on the other hand, focused on local players and new players who have not worked out yet, as the team has recently lost all of their records and achievement. For example, few days ago, they lost their first home match against Everton in last thirty years (manutd.com 2016). Therefore, the possibility is low that the chosen strategy can help the club. However, Manchester United does not have any other option too. Conclusion and recommendations From the report, it is clear that the most significant problem of Manchester United is their amount of debt in the market. The rules and regulations of UEFA and FIFA are also stopping them from taking more debts. Therefore, it is becoming more difficult for them to deal with the situation. Besides, the team has not won any major trophies in the last two years which is also hurting the management. In this critical time, the only chance that Manchester United has to survive is their huge fan base and their strong presence in social networking sites. Last year, Manchester United gained 451 million dollars from commercials and match days. It is also expected that this number will increase in the next two years. Therefore, it can be said that Manchester United is using their strengths perfectly to deal with their current issues. However, it is also true that Manchester United has some competitive weaknesses which are creating obstacles before them. Arsenal and Liverpool have already compl eted their preseason practices in China which gave them a great opportunity to connect with the local fans. Manchester United does not have any similar plans and as a result, they are slowly losing their fan base in China. The fact is not hidden to the authority of the club but still they are not taking any steps to revert these effects. Therefore, it can be said that in spite of having several strategies, the company is unable to execute them precisely. References Ado, A.B., Hassan, H. and Nasir, M.H.M., 2015. Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) Features: Comparing Two Football Clubs (Manchester United Chelsea FC). Ausloos, M., Gadomski, A. and Vitanov, N.K., 2014. Primacy and ranking of UEFA soccer teams from biasing organization rules.Physica Scripta,89(10), p.108002. Doidge, M., 2014. Book review: The Global Football League: Transnational Networks, Social Movements and Sport in the New Media Age.International Review for the Sociology of Sport,49(1), pp.121-124. Edwards, K.G., 2013. The Biggest Game in Town: The NFL, The EPL, and a New Model for Value Creation in Professional Sports. Kennedy, D. and Kennedy, P., 2015. Grass-roots football, autonomous activity and the forging of new social relationships.Sport in Society,18(4), pp.497-513. manutd.com, 2016.Business Model. [online] manutd.com. Available at: https://ir.manutd.com/company-information/business-model.aspx [Accessed 14 Mar. 2016]. McNamara, P., Peck, S.I. and Sasson, A., 2013. Competing business models, value creation and appropriation in English football.Long Range Planning,46(6), pp.475-487. Millward, P. and Poulton, G., 2014. Football fandom, mobilization and Herbert Blumer: A social movement analysis of FC United of Manchester.Sociology of Sport Journal,31(1), pp.1-22. Nufer, G., 2013. Ticket pricing in European football-Analysis and implications.International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences,1(2), pp.49-60. Ogbonna, E. and Harris, L.C., 2015. Subcultural tensions in managing organisational culture: a study of an English Premier League football organisation.Human Resource Management Journal,25(2), pp.217-232. Olson, E.M., Duray, R., Cooper, C. and Olson, K.M., 2016. Strategy, structure, and culture within the English Premier League: an examination of large clubs.Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal,6(1). Paramio-Salcines, J.L., Downs, P. and Grady, J., 2015. Football and its communities: the celebration of Manchester United FCs Ability Suite.Soccer Society, pp.1-22. Petrkov, D. and Sorokov, T., 2015. Economic and Psychological Aspects of Importance of Real Madrid Brand in Marketing Communication.Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences,6(3), p.504. Poli, R., Besson, R. and Ravenel, L., 2013. The Demographic Polarisation of European Football.Article Available at https://www. footballperspectives. org,21. Porter, C., May, A. and Kiernan, A., 2015. Thinking long and wide: which communities have a future within the global game?.Soccer Society, pp.1-5. Rofe, J.S., 2014. It is a squad game: Manchester United as a diplomatic non-state actor in international affairs.Sport in Society,17(9), pp.1136-1154. Sanders, A., Heys, B., Ravenscroft, N. and Burdsey, D., 2014. Making a difference: the power of football in the community.Soccer Society,15(3), pp.411-429. Shaw, E.H., 2012. Marketing strategy: from the origin of the concept to the development of a conceptual framework.Journal of Historical Research in Marketing,4(1), pp.30-55. Szymanski, S., 2016. Professional Asian football leagues and the global market.Asian Economic Policy Review,11(1), pp.16-38. Thetoptens.com, T., 2016.Top 10 Football (Soccer) Leagues of 2015-2016 - TheTopTens.com. [online] Thetoptens.com. Available at: https://www.thetoptens.com/football-soccer-leagues-2015-2016/ [Accessed 14 Mar. 2016]. Unlucan, D., 2014. Jersey manufacturers in football/soccer: the analysis of current jersey manufacturers of 1061 football/soccer clubs in top leagues of 72 countries.Soccer Society,15(3), pp.314-333. Wicker, P., Soebbing, B.P., Feiler, S. and Breuer, C., 2015. The effect of Porter's generic strategies on organisational problems of non-profit sports clubs.EJSS. European Journal for Sport and Society,12(3), p.281.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Social Applications of GIS â⬠Free Sample Assignment Solution
Question: Describe the role of social applications of GIS? Answer: Social Applications of GIS GIS or geographical information system have become more matured and robust. It is being used in different types of applications in various domains like technology, research, social sciences, governance, business etc. More advanced technologies like web based GIS, mobile GIS etc. are emerging. In current age, information technology applications have become more ubiquitous in nature. Usability of those applications is also another concern. Applications those are social-driven, are more relevant in this context. Spatial decision making based on spatial data has been introduced and implemented in practice based on web based GIS applications. Any common man can place query and access spatial data from suitable application. This is kind of democratizing of events. GIS is being adopted by social sciences very rapidly. Application of GIS in social science helps to address number of challenges faced by society. (Craglia Maheswaran, 2004) Social science is a vast domain. Basically it covers all activities that somehow related to human aspects or studies human aspects. Sometimes social science is termed as soft science. It is just an attempt to categorize physical or quantitatively driven physical science from subjective social science. But it is hard to differentiate between these two as those are overlapped. There is a new category of social sciences with such overlaps, it is called mixed methods. Social science helps in binding members of a society to its environment. Social science can be think of as a process that constructs and describes how people are networked and interact with each other, how the behave, think or act , how people can be grouped together etc. People also forms communities but there will be individual existence. (Adewunmi, 2007) There will be some kind of spatial framework for any social process. This is very much inherent to the behavior and daily activities of the people. For example, local neighborhood is the place where people live and this is spatial by nature. On the other hand, spatial framework is important for GIS applications and concepts. Here comes the reasons behind application of GIS in social sciences. GIS helps in carrying out different types of socio-spatial research by allowing comparison and integration of data from different contexts, environments etc. GIS has significant applications in such researches. (Craglia Couclelis, 1997) A research on social science will be involved in exploring, describing and explaining just like GIS helps in analysis of spatial data, gives insight to the results. In many cases these results and insight to the result have been proven as pivotal for contemporary society (Babbie, 2012).GIS applications needs to use spatial data from appropriate sources and analyzing those using suitable methods. Social issues like public health, education, development, crime, planning etc. are important application domains of GIS into social science.(Nyerges, et al., 2011) Application domains like health, rural planning, urban regeneration, development of social policies, crime etc. have different key themes for applications of GIS into these domains. For example, cluster analysis is used in determining health related queries from social and geographical information, in urban regeneration visualization is used for getting idea about some proposed development plan.(Moran, 2011) GIS can be used to tackle various issues with government, academia etc. It is possible to map spatial dimensions or components into different social datasets like data on lifestyle of people, census data, public health records, government data etc. from these data different types of maps like choroplethic map can be developed (Babbie, 2012). For example, it can be visualized that what is the employment status of the people in some area by analysis data from national statistics. This is possible by joining geometric attributes and map creation. It can also help to find patterns from social data ranging from a local area to different regions. Special dimensions like place, location, distribution, scale etc. are part of GIS based applications in analysis of such kind of data. Thus GIS not only helps in explaining social science processes rather it helps in various mapping, measurement and analysis. (Craglia Couclelis, 1997) There are several application of GIS in social science. In community development data on community organization, urban spatial politics, narratives based of GIS spatial data etc. are being used. In disaster management geospatial technologies can be used. In land management land use conversion, different regulative mechanisms, geo-informatics are used. In public health, remote sensor based systems are used for identifying areas with high risks of diseases etc. In planning, GIS based terrestrial planning are used for developing wireless network in some area etc. Other than these GIS can be used in numerous social science domains like sustainable development, geography including soil study, agriculture etc. In practice, the original problem is identified in the light of socio-spatial concepts, then specification of data and methods will be used for gauging the scale of the analysis, limitation of data etc. There are various issues with social applications of GIS. One of the foremost consideration is how data will be collected and will be analyzed. Then next issue is how data will represent individuals and groups. Then, how social activities and behavior will be analyzed by the spatial patterns. Another consideration is there may be several issues while working with the spatial and longitudinal data sets. (Steinberg Steinberg, 2005) Scale and integration is an important factor for datasets collected from GIS based applications. For example, census contains data about people and their households. There may be exceptions to ensure data security and the quality of those data may be not ready to analyze. This is there for ensuring anonymity of data. On the other hand, aggregated datasets are useful for mapping visualizations on those datasets. Ecological fallacy is a great concern in Social applications of GIS. According to it, any characteristic or process may not be present if the scale is changed, hence, it is inappropriate to assume presence of those characteristics or processes while moving from one scale to another. Thus, average characteristics cannot be assumed for aggregated population. At ecological level, associations may be observed among different variable but that do not imply same associations at another levels of groups or individuals. The identification and investigation of such variables is the res ponsibility of the GIS analyst. GIS analyst is also responsible to scale datasets properly by ensuring there will be no ecological fallacy or other casual links unfounded in the datasets (Steinberg Steinberg, 2005). In another way, multiple scales of the social behaviors and activities should be recognized. These scales may operate on some multi-level model. A multi-level model can be developed from aggregated data or from individual data based on contextual or compositional or both kinds of behavior. These models are made in such a way that it reflects realistic nature of human activities. (Moran, 2011) With the advancement of GIS and the modeling techniques, now it is not impossible to model neighborhood and behaviors of individuals, but it also helps in modeling social activities of individuals. For example, travelling details of an individual on space, shopping information etc. Researchers can investigate individual level compositional factors other than area based contextual behavior and patterns present in social landscapes. These features also helps in exploring interplay between different factors that operate of the population levels and scales. (Paliou, et al., 2014) Many of the recent GIS applications in social sciences have given exposure to the pollutants to the environments, healthcare opportunities, travel information etc. Even employment activities of individuals can be captured and analyzed. Models of spatial activity research focus on the activities by individuals on spaces during 24 hours of a day. Models on individual level sometimes collect data from questionnaire, personal details etc. A thing to consider here is, the size of the dataset in such cases will not be very longer, thus there may be issues with representation of data from this smaller sized datasets. On the other hand, larger projects may involve geocoding and more computational budgets for combined datasets on group of individuals. Here one important thing to consider is privacy of individuals. Analysis can be either local or global. GIS based social applications may focus on the longitudinal studies on historical GIS. From these resources data on social records can be accessed based on different time frames. After that these data can be analyzed. For example, patterns on spatial inequality over time can be understood from such datasets. Standardization is a key issue here. (Steinberg Steinberg, 2005) In case on any longitudinal study it needs to consider the changes restricted by social landscapes, administration etc. on different time frames. Thus, the data sets cannot just overlay on the top of each other as the characteristics of the landscapes change over time. The variations on the boundaries or spatial units are also needed to be considered. A process called interpolation can be used in such cases. It helps in disaggregation of the datasets from the original sources and re-aggregates those at the target level. For example, if the census data of some state is needed to be analyzed from time frame from 1990 to 2000, then the simplest way of doing so is to enumerate data for different towns or cities of the state. But again, simple overlay is not possible to aggregate census data from different towns and cities. The suitable approach is to transform the datasets into same spatial units. This problem belongs to the domain of areal interpolation. This is a process based on areal weighing by assuming uniformity of the characteristics across the space. Then it intersects the datasets from sources and target and helps in establishing a shared area. On the shared area it performs re-distribution of the population based on the proportional value. (Raper, 2003) A historical study considers how geography effects datasets over a period of time during collection of data. Data standardization helps in study of different landscapes of individual behavior and social advancements of individuals over time. (Casino, 2009) GIS has significant implication on social sciences and society. One of the most important GIS based development is the emergence of critical GIS. In early days GIS based applications were more focused on technical and quantitative approaches. Geographers and GIS researchers were challenged to follow on these quantitative approaches later on and they gave attention to surveillance and controlling properties of GIS. Application of technology on society is often shaped by different social conditions. GIS based technology and its application on social sciences is no exception. Technology also has significant impact on society. Social shaping and social impact are two perspective towards social constructive and technology. These help in understanding the roles of information and communication technologies in society, among individuals and groups. (Milson Alibrandi, 2008) Usually an investigation framework is followed while finding insight from the results of the analysis. Application of GIS to social sciences provides just some glimpses to the emerging realm of GIS and its impacts on society. There are various issues to negotiate during such applications of GIS in social sciences. There are various social based GIS applications. A typical investigation framework contains several steps. During the very beginning, it is necessary to have a clear definition and interpretation of the actual problem. The concepts should be very clear. Then the conceptual framework can be developed. This is important for identification of the variables and actors as a part of the study and area of the study, its environmental and social impacts. Without the conceptual framework it is difficult to gauge the requirements. (Cope Elwood, 2009) When the goals of the project are defined clearly, then the investigation methods are needed to be selected. In case of social sciences, there are options to take qualitative, quantitative or mixed approach in investigation. On the other hand, in GIS, the focus is more on the qualitative investigation. There are various tools and techniques to measure connectivity and distance. Recent advancements in activity modeling at individual level and participatory techniques have helped in such cases. For example, biographies, oral histories can also help in analysis applications, visualization of the environment of individual etc. It also helps in demonstrating different geographical setting and enhance quality of qualitative analysis. After identifying the methodology to follow in the analysis process, it needs establishment of the datasets. In some cases, databases are available readily and easily fits into the purpose. But in some cases, opposite may happen. There may be more data than requirement. It should be remembered, that quality and quantity of data are important. There may be issues with padded datasets that is data sets based on some proxy based mechanisms. There are various publicly available data sets like census and others from national statistics. Then it comes about data aggregation. The nature, scale and aggregation of data should be considered. Proxy mechanisms sometimes are also helpful, but it depends on the problem and available dataset and also how the proxy mechanisms are being used. (Cromley McLafferty, 2011) There is a wide range of analytical methods supported by GIS. These methods can be applied to social sciences. The selection of spatial data model effects the available analysis methods and tools. At last, proper interpretation of the findings is a key issue. There may be applications and use of theories behind finding spatial patters on human behavior. Finding the right set of information from the finding from the analysis is a crucial part. (Lnen Travis, 2012) GIS is rapidly gaining its popularity among the domains and applications related to social sciences. The key steps of any process will be conceptualization of the actual problem, deciding the methodology for analysis, collecting and building suitable dataset, analysis of the dataset and interpretation of the analysis. GIS has very promising and significant applications on social sciences. There are several researches going on this topic. It helps in improving society and lives of the individuals. Thus it can change social landscapes and its elements. But there are several notable issues. For example, data privacy of individuals. Collection of data should consider data privacy of individuals. It does not gives right to access any personal information about anyone. With emergence of technology and GIS based application this issue is becoming more prominent. GIS practitioner and analysts should take care of this issue. They should use data and its analysis in the proper way. It should not be the case that instead of making the lives of individuals easier, these applications make them suffer. The impact of GIS can be very potential but it should be understood at the first place. (Mehrer Wescott, 2005) In this essay, different facets of applications of GIS in social science have been discussed. To make the content easier to understand, at the very beginning, the terms like society, social science etc. have been defined clearly. Then there are discussions on impact of GIS based application in past, present and future scopes, the methodologies used in these applications, the process of GIS based applications in social sciences, what are the things to understand and follow in this case etc. (Scholten, et al., 2009) References Adewunmi, O. F., 2007. The Effects of Web-enabled GIS Relational Database Management System in an Organization. s.l.:ProQuest. Babbie, E., 2012. The Practice of Social Research. s.l.:Cengage Learning. Briggs, D. J., 2002. GIS for Emergency Preparedness and Health Risk Reduction. s.l.:Springer . Campagna, M., 2008. GIS for Sustainable Development. s.l.:CRC Press. Casino, V. D., 2009. Social Geography. s.l.:John Wiley Sons. Cope, M. Elwood, S., 2009. Qualitative GIS. s.l.:SAGE. Craglia, M. Couclelis, H., 1997. Geographic Information Research. s.l.:CRC Press. Craglia, M. Maheswaran, R., 2004. GIS in Public Health Practice. s.l.:CRC Press. Cromley, E. K. McLafferty, S. L., 2011. GIS and Public Health. 2nd ed. s.l.:Guilford Press. Fisher, P., 2005. Re-Presenting GIS. s.l.:John Wiley Sons. Gimblett, H. R., 2001. Integrating Geographic Information Systems and Agent-Based Modeling Techniques for Simulating Social and Ecological Processes. s.l.:Oxford University Press. Jankowski, P. Nyerges, T., 2001. GIS for Group Decision Making. s.l.:CRC Press. Kovar, K. Nachtnebel, H. P., 1996. Application of Geographic Information Systems in Hydrology and Water Resources Management:. s.l.:International Association of Hydrological Sciences. Lovett, A. A. Appleton, K., 2007. GIS for Environmental Decision-Making. s.l.:CRC Press. Lnen, A. v. Travis, C., 2012. History and GIS. s.l.:Springer . Mehrer, M. W. Wescott, K. L., 2005. GIS and Archaeological Site Location Modeling. s.l.:CRC Press. Milson, A. J. Alibrandi, M., 2008. Digital Geography. s.l.:IAP. Moran, E. F., 2011. Environmental Social Science. s.l.:John Wiley Sons. Nyerges, T., Couclelis, H. McMaster, R., 2011. The SAGE Handbook of GIS and Society. s.l.:SAGE. Okabe, A., 2005. GIS-based Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences. s.l.:CRC Press. Paliou, E., Lieberwirth, U. Polla, S., 2014. Spatial analysis and social spaces. s.l.:Walter de Gruyter. Parker, R. N. Asencio, E. K., 2009. GIS and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences. s.l.:Routledge. Raper, J., 2003. Multidimensional Geographic Information Science. s.l.:CRC Press. Scholten, H. J., Velde, R. J. v. d. Manen, N. v., 2009. Geospatial Technology and the Role of Location in Science. s.l.:Springer . Sinton, D. S. Lund, J. J., 2007. Understanding Place. s.l.:ESRI, Inc.. Steinberg, S. J. Steinberg, S. L., 2005. Geographic Information Systems for the Social Sciences. s.l.:SAGE Publications.
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